Our third sponsored TDN took place thursday the 22 jan – 09 and was sponsored by Mata Hari absinthe. At the same time as most of us participated from all around, Sean-Mike and Marshall from Scofflaws den, Rick from Kaiserpenguin, Nathan, and Sam Harrigan from the Brand Action Team attended the TDN live from Tabard Inn in Washington, D.C where bartender Chantal mixed up the recipes that kept coming in from the rest of us mixing it up in our homes.
As usual in the mixoloseum chat room there were an almost never ending range of drinks, discussions, jokes and tweaking of recipes. For those of you who don`t know what the TDN is, its the “Thursday Drink Night” at the mixoloseum chat room where cocktail enthusiasts, bartenders and spirit writers suggest recipes, makes drinks, tweak them, discuss them after a given theme. I think the video very well explains what TDN is all about:
The TDN went for more than 6-7 hours and there were many people partaking. Here are a few very random comments from the mixoloseum chat room that night, when i think some 30 cocktails in all were made:
User TabardInnCrew has entered this room.
[BonzoGal] Hi, all y’all at Tabard Inn Crew!
[Sam Harrigan] Hello from DC!
[cocktailnerd] We ready for TDN to begin ladies and gentlemen? We have our first drink from Erik Flannestad
[cocktailnerd] Green Pearl Cocktail: 2 oz Dry Gin, 1/2 oz Lime Juice, 1/2-3/4 oz orgeat, dash Absinthe. Shake, strain, up.
[cocktailnerd] keep the welcomes coming and hopefully we’ll have Gerry Fischer, the master distiller joining us soon.
[Sam Harrigan] SeanMike & Marshall from Scofflaw’s Den are with me…Rick Stutz (kaiserpenguin) and Nathan (oysterschnapps) should be joining soon.
rhesuspieces00: I have to confess, i still have no intuition for how to use absinthe as a primary ingredient. its easy to throw a dash or two in anywhere, but any drink that uses more than 1 oz of absinthe and turns out good seems like a small miracle to me.
rumdood: The absinthe is – to me – typically too strong of a flavor.
[steveraye] So from a mixology POV, what’s the solution when using a powerfully flavored ingredient?
rumdood: Finding other strong flavors to balance or temper it.Egg can be good because it’s a great tempering agent.
rhesuspieces00: typically, if i have a really strong ingredient, i try to find other nice things to reduce its potency whil providing a nice back drop to showcase the primary.
[stevideter] peeps ready?
[stevideter] The Dancer Who Loved Me: 1 oz MH, 1 oz Lillet, 1 oz Apricot Orchard, stir over ice, strain into glass filled with cracked ice.
[jayhepburn] that one sounds very interesting.
[steveraye] Gerry just landed at 6:25 from Austria, may not be able to join us till later.But if anyone has any questions, I can answer some of them, but it would be good to wait till Gerry gets on.
[cocktailnerd] Why is there resistance to the Bohemian-style? “Czech-style” I understand given it’s sordid and craptastic history, but this seems a legitimate expression of the form…
[steveraye] That’s the point…all the other products we brought back were super heavy on licorice. Gerry had resurrected this one bec of the lower anise and felt it would work well in cocktails. He was right…AMH outsells his regular Absinthe Montmartre throughout Europe. And the recipe is original…I saw the actual recipe which he keeps in Great Grandpa’s safe.
rhesuspieces00: i’ll confess a preference for marteau, but a low-anise absinthe is useful for a lot of reasons, both for mixing and as a gateway for people trying to learn to appreciate absinthe.
[steveraye] The issue is there are two definitions of “Bohemian”. In acuality, Bohemia is a region of what used to be Czecoslovakia (the west). But Gerry used the word Bohemian as a descriptor of style, not a designation of Geographic origin. But because “czechsinthe” has such a bad rep in the US, people sometimes lump Mata Hari with them, even though when we say Bohemian we mean “reduced anise flavor style”
[Meade] steveraye for me, czech absinthe is traditionally horrible because of bad distilling methods. that isn’t always true, but that’s valid for any generalization.
[steveraye] Meade, youre right. Czechsinthe generally is bad GNS mixed with wormwood flavors and food coloring. AMH is macerated, distilled, and the color comes naturally. from wormwood pontica.
User geraldfischer has entered this room.
[TabardInnCrew] Hi Gerald and welcome to TDN!
[geraldfischer] I heard the question about bad reputation of bohemian absinthe and if it should be called wormwood bitter
[cocktailnerd] Yeah,we were discussing earlier how the Bohemian style of absinthe compares to “more traditional” Swiss and French styles, what can you tell us about the Bohemina style’s development and history?
[steveraye] We were talking about the origins of Bohemian=lower anise. I explained two definitions, bohemian style, and Bohemia the region which unfortunately is associated with czechsinthe here in the US
[geraldfischer] I would like to start by stating that wormwood and absinthe is the same word ,first in english and then latin.So weare talking about a spirit made out of wormwood ! I found out that wormwood ( already used by the romans ) was used first for psychic reasons by Hildegard of Bingen a Benedictine in the 12th century as medicine against Melancholism and depression.
[geraldfischer] Are we using wormwood in a spirit because of its taste ( bitter ) or because of its effect ?
[tiare] I would think taste yes, and then effect.
[geraldfischer] In the countries of the former Austrian Hungerian Monarchy ( Germany/Italy/Hungry/Czech ) we like Bitterspirits and we never had a problem with the bitter taste of wormwood.
[dietsch] My wife and I both enjoy our cocktails more bitter than sweet.
[geraldfischer] The only spice that can cover a bitter taste is aniseed / licorice
[camper] here is my question: paul pacult says MH is “sweeter than most” absinthes. yet i think we all think of it as the least sweet absinthe. do you think that anise gives a perception of sweetness?
[geraldfischer] Aniseed makes it milder if you like licorice taste.
[camper] it’s almost like anise has a coating effect, as you say negating the bitterness. i am wondering if we confuse it with sweetness.
[geraldfischer] the bad reputation of czech absinthe results because of two reasons. Absinthe was reborn in the late 80´s by small company called Hill´s selling their bohemian absinthe to the clubs in London.The small distilleries in Europe had mostly disapeared and the remaining bigger ones were not interested in the small absinthe market.
But a lot of former pot smoker thought that theyfound the LEGAL drug and mixed their absinthes in the cellar of their homes. Mid of the 90´s we had 350 different absinthe of producers that nobodyknew before !
Please choose the absinthe that tastes best to you either in the french way if you like licorice or in the bohemian way if you prefer a bitter spirit.I would like to point out to you that Mata Hari is the only not licorice tasting Absinthe that has a Louche Effect with ice & Water.
[cocktailnerd] what oils, outside of wormwood, are causing that?
[geraldfischer] Secret, kept next to the Coca Cola recipe 
[samuraibartender] geraldfischer – When you’ve a moment; I swear I get a slight flavor not dissimilar to cinnamon in the taste of Mata Hari. Anything you can tell us about that?
[geraldfischer] Yes we use a kind of cinnamon, we call CASSIA.
[TabardInnCrew] i’ve got a drink when people are ready.
[TabardInnCrew] The Sum of the Derivative: 1 1/2 oz bourbon, 1/2 oz Mata Hari, 1/2 oz Dolin blanc vermouth, dash of angostura.
[cocktailnerd] how did your opinion of Mata Hari change as a result of this evening?
[samuraibartender] It’s good, in cocktails – different and I don;t think I;d throw it at every cocktail what calls for a quantity of absinthe, but not bad for mixing overall
[rumdood]: I’m enjoying what I’ve mixed tonight. It’s definitely a mixer and not a traditional absinthe.
[Meade] honestly, i didn’t have one prior to me tasting it. forever ago i read about it containing diviner’s sage, which intrigied me, but i took it as it was and it was delicious.
[tiare] Its really enjoyable as mixer i think.
[Meade] mata hari fits into “absinthe” to be, but i just wouldn’t call it an absinthe francaise.
[camper] i found the statement that absinthe, since it means wormwood, means it should taste like wormwood, to be an intriguing idea and has caused me to reconsider my thoughts about it.
Here is a link to the wrap-up of the Mata Hari TDN.
LA LIMONATA
1.5 oz tequila
1 oz Mata Hari absinthe
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz simple syrup
Lemon soda to top.
Shake and strain into glass filled with crushed ice.
Garnish a lime wedge and mint.
What`s your opinion on Bohemian style absinthe?
